NAPLAN: Bright kids fall behind at disadvantaged schools

Bright students at disadvantaged schools lag at least two years behind their peers from wealthier schools and struggling students from poor backgrounds continue to fall behind with each year of school, a new analysis of NAPLAN data reveals.

The analysis, in a report by public policy think-tank the Grattan Institute, found that the learning gaps between Australian students of different backgrounds are "alarmingly wide" and worsen as students move through school.

"When kids are performing at the same level from the same starting point, it is pretty shocking that they can then fall behind 2½ years depending on what school they are at," the director of the institute's school education program, Peter Goss, said.

The spread of student achievement more than doubles as students move through school, the report says.

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The middle 60 per cent of students in Year 3 are working within a 2½-year range, the report says. By Year 9, the spread for these students has grown to 5½ years.

"The report also shows that in a typical Year 9 class, the top students can be more than seven years ahead of the bottom students," the report says.

The report also warns that the bar for reaching the national minimum standard in NAPLAN is too low to identify the "stragglers" because a Year 9 student meets that standard even if they are below the level of a typical Year 5 student.

"If we set the bar too low, it is very hard to aim high," Mr Goss said.

Mr Goss said standards were much higher in international tests such at the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Australia's PISA results have steadily declined over the past decade. Last year, Australia ranked 14th behind Poland, Germany and Vietnam, with up to 20 per cent of students unable to demonstrate basic skills.

"The bar we are setting with the [NAPLAN] national minimum standard is just too low. Importantly, it increases the risk of overlooking students who require additional support to make adequate progress. Australia must raise its sights," the Grattan Institute report says.

"We do students no favours by defining acceptable performance or progress using inadequate benchmarks."

The report also recommends using a time-based measure, 'years of progress', to make it easier to compare groups of students.

"Rather than saying that a Year 5 student scores 540 in NAPLAN, we can say they achieved two years ahead of their peers," Mr Goss said.

"The way we measure learning progress really matters. Without meaningful comparisons, we can't see how far behind some students really are."

The report says the national minimum standard either needs to rise or should be removed entirely.